Zwitter‐wettable acrylic polymeric coating on glasses for anti‐fog applications

Abstract

Anti‐fog coatings have received significant attention because of their versatile applications to reduce light scattering during high humid conditions. Primarily, hydrophilic/superhydrophilic coatings are applied upon the transparent substrate to improve visibility at high humidity. The high solubility of the hydrophilic/superhydrophilic coatings in water is the main drawback for their long‐term operational durability. We will report for the first time the development of functional copolymers which produces water insoluble hydrophilic coating upon application on glass surfaces. Such surfaces are commonly known as “Zwitter‐Wettable” surfaces that have been developed from entirely polymeric substances using methacrylic and acrylic monomers. A series of random copolymers were synthesized using free radical polymerization of the common and commercially available monomers which were subsequently characterized using various analytical techniques, such as, GPC, 1H‐NMR, and FTIR. These newly designed copolymers contained both the hydrophobic parts made up of methyl and 2‐ethylhexyl groups, which provide good stability under high humid conditions and hydroxyl and carboxylic acid groups which will provide the required hydrophilicity or water absorption capacity. These polymeric coatings on the glass surfaces exhibit water advancing contact angles in the range of 57 ± 3° to 78 ± 3° with excellent anti‐fog property. The anti‐fog property of the polymeric films could be tuned easily by changing the ratio of hydrophobic and hydrophilic monomers.

Preparation of Antifog Hard Coatings Based on Carboxy-Functionalized Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane Cross-Linked with Oligo(ethylene glycol)s

“…Meanwhile, hydrophilic organic polymer coatings can be utilized as versatile antifog coatings owing to their excellent formability. − They incorporate hydrophilic groups, such as hydroxy, carboxy, ammonium, and sulfo groups. For example, polyacrylate coatings with various hydrophilic groups exhibit antifogging properties . Nonetheless, their hardnesses are generally lower than those of inorganic materials.…”

“…For example, polyacrylate coatings with various hydrophilic groups exhibit antifogging properties. 32 Nonetheless, their hardnesses are generally lower than those of inorganic materials. Consequently, the transparency and antifogging properties gradually deteriorate because of scratching and abrasion.…”

Photocured Zwitterionic Coatings Containing POSS for Antifogging Applications

“…However, hydrophilic coatings based on the above materials have experienced some problems. For example, superhydrophilic inorganic materials such as TiO 2 will lose their antifogging effect in the absence of UV illumination [16], whereas hydrophilic polymer coatings are prone to solubility in water [17,18] and show weak mechanical properties [19]. To this end, two surface chemistry strategies were introduced to fabricate superhydrophilic coatings, including EDC/NHS coupling [20] and surface silanization [21,22].…”

Characterization of chitosan/polyethylenimine film layer as a novel anti‐fog coating surface

“…With the wide usage area of anti-fog coatings, this issue attracts the attention of researchers around the world and continues to be studied in the literature. [1][2][3][4][5][6] Among the anti-fog film coatings that prevent the condensation of water in small droplets, polymeric materials stand out for their biocompatibility and their excellent adhesion to various surfaces without precoating. For example, the anti-fog surface obtained by coating acrylic resin polymer on the polycarbonate substrate surface exhibited high adhesion properties, 7 superhydrophobic and biocompatible coatings were obtained on glass, polypropylene, and aluminum substrates by using SEBS polymer.…”

“…Since the resulting fog reduces the transmittance of light, anti‐fog coatings are necessary to prevent accidents from refraction and reflection of light and to increase living comfort. With the wide usage area of anti‐fog coatings, this issue attracts the attention of researchers around the world and continues to be studied in the literature 1–6 …”